egg so brittle and thin its crushed by hen.

[jdypat]

I have 18 hens. I feed laying mash, they free range on 13 acres and i provide oyster shell all the time.
My eggs are so hard and thick that my friends say they never saw such hard shells as my eggs.
But one of the hens is laying a brittle thin shelled egg. so thin that most days its crushed by either its hens or another who gets in the nest to lay.
Im familiar with the thin shells with new layers.. and an occasional one. but this is daily.. the pointed end will be totally elastic like and the rest of the egg will be very thin but it does retain its shape. i can push on the pointy end and push it down into the egg and it will harden that way. but mostly they are crushed totally.
I dont know how i would be able to stand by the nest and figure out who is doing this. any suggestions?
My chickens are so very healthy and i get a dozen eggs a day and no complaints from anyone in the penn. what would you do?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I'm wondering if she doesn't like the oyster shell. I microwave my eggshells, crush them, and feed them back to the chickens. Maybe try this and see if it helps.

 

[CUDA]

If they have the oyster shell available, it is more than likely a Vitamin D deficiency. You can see more about this on my site HERE . Good luck!

 

[DandelionYolks]

I am having the VERY SAME problem!

My 8 hens and 1 rooster are all free range, have all the grit, oystershell, AND Calcite mixed into their feed which is this organic layer mash that I get locally from here http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M15695 Typically I get 3 good eggs a day and then this on paperthin shelled egg. It's not only the membrane, it does have a little shell, but it is so thin it is immediately crushed. Any ideas?

I doubt it is Vitamin D deficiency, they all get lots of sunlight.

 

[CUDA]

All I can say is if you have calcium provided for them, and supplementing vitamin D doesn't help, and just being in the sunlight isn't always enough for some birds, it is most likely genetic, and probably won't improve. JMO

 

[DandelionYolks]

How would I supplement vitamin D? Also Cuda, I tried the link on your previous post on vitamin D, but it didn't work. neither did it when I went to your webpage and clicked on "egg-laying problems".

 

[CUDA]

Sorry, I missed that problem, it should work for you now. Thanks.

 

[bigdog]

I have 1 or 2 RIR from McMurray that have thins shells. I'd be interested to know if that is the source of your birds - if it is genetic. I am actually thinking of culling these birds if I can tell for sure.

 

[DandelionYolks]

I'm kind of a newbie..... what is a RIR? As for where they came from, I don't know. I got my girls from my local farmer's supply store

 

[Dawn419]

Quote:
Hello and Welcome to BYC!

RIR=Rhode Island Red


Dawn